Life

My Allicat has sent me three new headers! She also said I owed her three new posts.

The best news of the year is that Erica is pregnant. She invited Tim and I over for dinner one night and casually mentioned "do you see any new pictures on the family wall?" and for a heartbeat I let myself believe. My eyes landed on a framed picture of a blurry ultra sound with a small peanut. I dissolved into tears, meanwhile Tim was still looking at the family shelf, very confused. I wasted no time asking Zach if I could attend the ultra sound for the baby's gender...he said "yes."



Had a marvelous Mother's Day. My two amazing children surprised me with tickets to Mr. Shue's concert in July AND bought an extra one for Chris. Mr. Shuester himself sent along this picture with the tickets.




Our San Francisco trip was perfect, turning 50 not so perfect.



Mike spent 4 days with me! In between him trying to get some color into that New Jersey ghostly skin, there was a lot of giggling and cooking. He made us the most delicious cookies and guacamole. He was also dragged to a few family activities and never complained. He also surprised me with flowers for Mother's Day. I miss him.




The End.

Pearls of Great Price

Over the years, friends and family have given me advice periodically, some good, some bad, some that has stuck with me for many years.

I share these pearls of wisdom with you.

FATHER:
"Wear nice clothes when you go to the department stores, you get better service."

MOTHER:
"Never leave your husband for more than a few days. I never did."

LDS CHURCH INSTRUCTOR (female):
"Always wear just a touch of make-up to bed for your husband."

LDS CHURCH INSTRUCTOR (male):
"Let any final decision be made by your priesthood husband."

PAST GAY BOYFRIEND:
"Everyone should own at least 3 Judy Garland albums."

TIM:
"Most people don't know shit from Shinola, trust no one."

OLD BOYFRIEND:
"Never mix beer and wine."

CAT GROOMER:
"Give your cat space and quiet to adjust to his new cut."


And there you have it, any and all advice one will ever need to lead a happy productive, fruitful life.

I would enjoy hearing any pearls of wisdom, family and friends have bestowed upon you.

Not Annoyed Day 4

I need a good post. I need a happy post. I need a new baby girl granddaughter. I need Star Trek to open to good reviews.

Done.Done.Done.Done.

Here she is world......drum roll.......hand claps.......standing O..........shouts......screams........(please hum "isn't she lovely" by Stevie Wonder) and meet:

Kayla Ashley



Born early this morning in beautiful Pinetop Arizona to my step daughter Lindsey.



Are babies not a pure miracle? From weird divided cells a soft pink cuddly baby produces itself 9 months later. I love you baby girl.

Annoyed & sad day 3

Someone close to me had an abortion this morning. I have never been this emotionally involved with this type of situation and it really affected me more than I thought it would. I cried and felt nauseous.


The hard part is that we talked about the baby, when it was due, whether she wanted a boy or girl, she seemed excited and happy. It was real.


The baby was 4 months along and I made the mistake of looking up its image and the description of its progress. Even though I have always supported a right to choose, I can't help but thinking she is killing a human.

The fetus is also developing at warp speed; by now, all its major organs are complete. In addition, its bones are growing stronger and its muscles longer. Its reflexes also are sharpening up—it can now swallow, kick and execute an occasional somersault with relative ease.

She is young, only 21 and having relationship problems with the father. The baby was likely to be destined for a hard life. Probably would have abused drugs and alcohol like the mother does. I'm torn on how I view abortion now that it's up close and personal. I feel hypocritical, I have always scoffed at the people fighting against the right to choose, BUT, I understand their point.

I believe that any woman that has an abortion will be affected the rest of her life.

What are your thoughts on abortion?

If you're happy and you know it clap your hands...

They are moved in!

Chris, Caca and I spent the morning putting down shelf paper, organizing kitchen cupboards and polishing cupboards with orange oil, which Chris maintained "I was obsessed with." I would have taken more pictures of the 2 of them bustling about, but I got yelled at for taking one picture.



There were no two better helpers yesterday than Sween and Pegs. I wasn't quite sure who was chasing who, but I did hear many squeals of laughter. Sween fashioned herself a cardboard home with quilt and pillow.



Timothy was a big helper too, he fixed a broken drawer and lifted a lot of heavy shit.



I am so happy for Erica and Zach. They have a beautiful home and many happy memories to come. I'm proud of them and love them very much.

Day 3 of happy

I have the next 2 days of work off. I'm off Friday to help Caca move into her new house! Chris and the Sween will join us, Sween will be immensely helpful I'm sure. I look forward to seeing what decorating magic Caca will cast upon her new house. Chris and I made one request, we want the future baby's room to be done entirely in Hello Kitty.

I was happy to read VH1 is bringing back "Divas Live," it's been gone for 4 years! It's a wonderful display of bitches trying to out sing each other and claim the biggest hair. Aretha singin' all over Mariah was something to behold.

Inspirational

This past week has been nothing short of amazing. I have been watching and reading the presidential coverage nonstop. President Obama and his beautiful family have inspired me to be a better person. He is a good man, a man with ethics and morals. He wants to do the right thing, he chooses truth and goodness. In his first short interview after becoming president, a reporter set him up to basically, throw Chief Roberts under the bus for messing up the oath of office. Obama took the high road, wouldn't go there and pretty much threw the whole thing back on himself and then said something about Roberts "helping me through the stanzas." It was a very small glimpse into exactly why I voted for him.

In my new reflective mood, I wanted to share who else inspires me:

Timothy Dan: My husband. He deftly handles stressful situations like no other. He is kind to people, enjoys people. He inspires me to a higher ground. I go to him for help, and he has the answer.

Christine Kay: My sister. Her passion for books, family, children is limitless. She goes about her duties as mother to 3 with a heart overflowing for those fine souls. Selfless. Selfless. Alex, Abby, Camille are loved.

Erica: My daughter. I should wear a crocheted wristband with "WWED" What would Erica do? I don't know how this motivated, organized, brilliant creature sprang from my uterus, I am in constant amazement at her copious talents. She is loyal and fearless.

Griffin: My son. Griffin is a magnet to people. They want to be near him, he is kind and inhabits a gentle soul. He walks a different path than most, never would he hurt someone or inflict pain. He loves people, simply and truthfully.

Allison: My friend. She and I have lived hundreds of miles from each other for 27 years, yet nothing has changed between us. She is loyal to a fault. She has enough talent for 5 women. I was always in her wake trying to keep up. Beautiful spirit, passionate center. I have shared with her some of my best laughter. Strength.

Abigail for a weekend

I was lucky this weekend because Abigail Marie Spiro, age 10, slept over for 2 nights. We did a lot of swimming, she showed me her impressive diving

We might have played a game in the pool called "SeaCats" where the cats didn't care about their special fur getting wet. She was Sweety SeaCat and I was Cecilia SeaCat.



We went to the movies and watched "Kitt Kittredge" which was excellent.


She danced a lot while Uncle Tim serenaded.




This is an amazing video of Abby. You will see her dancing and doing impressions with Uncle Tim providing the soundtrack.



This is an academy award performance by the irrepressible Abby, playing Ann Darrow in a scene from "King Kong"




I miss her already.

Evoke Something

I love pictures, here are a few of my favorites, some are difficult to put into words, others are obvious, like this first one.

It was summertime in Salt Lake and we were at my brother's house. Griffin spotted the overweight "Banjo" and hefted him up. The sky was a perfect blue and Griffin is absolutely delighted to be holding a 35 lb cat.



It was the first time Griffin had jet skied and he thought he was bad ass. He posed himself.



Erica had just gotten her braces removed, and was very happy. This was the first pic taken. I love her upturned hair.



This pic was taken on Griffin's 3rd birthday. The reason I love it, is because Erica in her "motherly" love for Griffin was instructing him on when, where and how to open his presents. He would barely get one opened and she would pounce on it, tossing it aside and hand him another one. The odd thing was, he accepted this from her, and not just at this birthday...it was their dynamic...Erica, teacher-Griffin, student, like it or not.



My grandpa and I had dug up worms under his cherry trees, packed our cheese sandwiches and drove "up to the canyon" to fish, I was 6 and followed my grandpa around like a puppy. When I spent the night, he was up before me making me "pannycakes" and his toxic concoction of orange juice with wheatgerm. He took this pic of me and labeled it "Chellie 1st fish-67."



This is my sister and I standing in a lake, I have no idea what lake. I was 8 years old. This picture just makes me feel good when I look at it, like summertime, childhood, carefree, and our hair is blowing. I love it.



I love her sunglasses pulling back her sun-highlighted hair, and her beautiful expression. This is Erica, animated, excited...beautiful.



This is my mother in the backyard of the Arizona Holbrook Mission. At first she didn't want to swing, but gave in. My sister Chris was pushing her, and she was laughing laughing laughing. This is how I like to think of her, free from canes and wheelchairs and happy.



Tim and I went to Hawaii for his 50th birthday last year, he had never been. When we checked into our hotel I asked the lady for a room with a view. We were on the top floor, I walked out onto the balcony and gasped, this was the shot.